V. I. Lenin

The Third Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.

APRIL 12–27 (APRIL 25–MAY 10), 1905

SPEECH IN THE DEBATE ON THE CONGRESS AGENDA

Iwould have no objection to the proposal of Comrades Mikhailov, Voinov
and
Zimin.{1}But there is a danger that the Congress will overdo the
agenda debate. The agenda at German Social-Democratic congresses runs to 5
or 6 items; we had up to 25 at the Second Congress. There is already a
danger of our debate getting out of hand. I propose that we adopt as a
basis the agenda with a better breakdown.

{1}The proposal put forward by D. S. Postolovsky (Mikhailov),
A. V. Lunacharsky (Voinov) and L. B. Krasin (Zimin) was that the Congress
agenda should be drawn up under four heads: organisational questions,
tactical questions, attitude to other parties and delegates’ reports. This
proposal was adopted. In the subsequent discussion and amendment, the
agenda was adopted with these main heads: 1) tactical questions; 2)
organisational questions; 3) attitude to other parties; 4) work within the
Party; 5) delegates’ reports; 6) elections.

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